A stunned farmer claimed animal rights activists caused the death of two of her pigs after 200 protesters unexpected descended on her farm near Lincoln.

Sylvia Hook said she had been expecting a normal quiet day at Sandilands Farm near Laughterton when she woke up today.

Instead, she was greeted with the site of 200 activists from Meet The Victims UK, who had arrived to protest at the conditions pigs are kept in at farms.

The protesters divided into two groups, with one group staying by the roadside to act as the public face of the protest, while others went inside a barn on the farm and refused to move until a national medial organisation turned up to see what was going on at the farm.

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He added: “Unless you can show definitive evidence that piglets have died because of activists being in there then they haven’t got much of a case.

“The scenes I’ve witnessed in there everyone is calm, the pigs are calm, there’s no big commotion.

“It’s a baseless claim unless she can prove otherwise.”

Police on the scene at Sandlilands Farm (Image: Lincolnshire Echo)

Mr Hines said the protesters were aiming to raise awareness of the use of farrowing crates on pig farms.

He said: “The mothers are in what are known as farrowing crates, the space inside a crate is enough for them to take a few steps forward, a few steps back, they can stand up and sit down, they can’t turn around.

“They will be in there for about six to eight weeks while they let the pigs suckle. The idea behind them being in this is so they don’t crush the piglets.

“The activists are inside there willing to stay inside until we get the media to come here to learn about the realities about what’s going on and to inform the public about what they are purchasing and the results of their food choices.